Welcome to Demeter Cafe, how can we help you?
by Come-Along-Williams
Summary: After Kieran fires Nigel from the IV Bar, Libby comes up with a brilliant plan to help Nigel over his grief. How will it end? Good-natured chaos ensured!
1. A piece of organic honey cake!

"That slimy git!" Libby fumed. "That utter limy sleazeball!" she raged, stabbing her lunch with her fork and proceeded to viciously murder it.

Gerald placed a calming hand on her arm, "Libby, no need to kill the pasta any more," he told her, a hint of a laugh in his tone about her actions.

She stopped mid-stab, surprised and stared at him for a moment. "Aren't you even a _little_ bit upset about this all?" she demanded.

Gerald looked taken aback at her tone. "Of course I'm upset! How can I not be?! After all, he _is_ my Dad...! How can you expect me to _not_ be upset about what happened to him?!"

"How's he doing?" Libby asked, taking a bite of her lunch.

"He's devastated! I don't think I've ever seen him in worse shape. Well, except for when Mum left for France without him, but that's totally different... This was like his dream, to own and manage a bar..." Gerald gave a sigh and took a bite of his sandwich.

"Ugh, I could just wallop him right here and now!" Libby burst out. "How could he do something like that?!"

"Because he's cold and heartless and cares more about how much income he's receiving. He said Dad was about to sink his business. At least that's what he told me when I confronted him..."

"You actually talked to him?" Libby asked incredulously.

"Yelled at more like," Gerald replied.

Libby gave a frustrated sigh. "I wish there was something we could do..."

Gerald shook his head. "Yeah, I wish there was something too... But there isn't, not unless Kieran suddenly has a change of heart, or Dad unexpectedly inherits a bar from someone..."

Libby's eyes lit up. "That's it!"

Gerald looked at her curiously. "What's it?"

"We'll get Nigel his own bar!" she explained, her eyes sparkling.

Gerald gave a rueful laugh. "Oh yup totally. Except my Dad doesn't have that kind of money, Libby."

"Well no, but we could get one _for_ him," she told Gerald, her sparkle a tiny bit gone now that she remembered about the money aspect of buying a bar.

"Earth to Libby. Neither of us exactly walk around with a spare several hundred thousand..." Gerald reminded her, devouring the rest of his sandwich.

"Maybe not, but if all the fans of Nigel's cuisine donated just a bit, no matter how small, plus if Nigel has any savings himself, we could get hima bar no problem!" She took a bite of her pasta. "It'll be a piece of cake," she gave a chuckle, "a piece of organic honey cake." Then she fixed him with a look, "And I _was not_ killing my pasta!"


	2. Halfway between sleeping and dying

Libby sighed in frustration, burying her head in her hands, trying to block out the thousands of thoughts swirling through her head. She heard someone cough, as if to get her attention, but she kept her head down, her eyes closed, needing a small break before she either imploded or exploded (she didn't know which would come first in her current state), biting someone's head off in the process.

"Uh something the matter Libby?" a male voice asked.

Libby knew even without raising her head that it was Callum McKay who was standing over her, and by the tone of his voice she knew that he wore a bemused smile on his face.

"No, sir, everything's fine," came Libby's somewhat muffled reply.

"And the reason you look halfway between sleeping and dying?"

Finally Libby lifted her head off her hands and dared a look at the CEO. Callum was standing and watching over her, a questioning yet bemused look on his face. "Well it's just that Gerald and I are trying to buy Nigel a bar of his own and I had forgotten how tedious and frustrating the property market is…" She gave a sigh, then composing herself asked, "Was there something you needed me to do?"

Callum ignored her question, and instead sat himself down in the chair opposite her, looking interested. "You're trying to buy Nigel a bar?" he questioned, not sure if he'd heard right.

Libby nodded. "Yeah. We're trying to cheer him up after what Kieran did to him. He's so upset…"

"And so you're buying him a bar to make him feel better?" Callum clarified.

Libby nodded. "It's been his lifelong dream to own his own bar… Except, well, no one's selling their bars anywhere around here… And I had wanted to get him a bar somewhere nearby, so he could see Gerald whenever he wanted and so that English jerk can see what a mistake he made in firing Nigel!"

"So are you doing this to make Nigel truly feel better, or are you doing this for revenge, as a way of getting back at Kieran?" Callum asked, fixing her with a look.

"To make Nigel feel better of course!" Libby replied. When Callum gave her a disbelieving look, she looked indignant.

"Well it's true. Anyway, when that British rat sees how well Nigel is doing, there'll be no need for any more revenge."

Callum looked at her for a moment. "Well, IV Central is being sold again…" Callum told her.

The blonde's eyes lit up. "Really?!" When Callum nodded, she eyed him curiously, "How do you know this? I've been trawling through real-estate websites for the past hour, and I couldn't find anything…"

"Wonderful way to spend the working day," Callum remarked, a hint of sarcasm in his tone, but it was not unkind. "Trawling through real-estate, instead of doing your job, hmm?"

Libby looked down sheepishly. "I'm sorry. But I did get everything done first beforehand. Anyway, you didn't answer the question. How do you know that IV Central's up for sale? It wasn't on any real-estate website that I looked in…"

"It's a private sale. The owner is an acquaintance of mine. He'd actually called me this morning to ask if I knew of anyone interested," he replied.

Libby looked as if she could die of happiness. "Wow, you're actually serious, aren't you?"

"Of course I am. I'm guessing that I can now call him back and tell him you're interested?"

Libby nodded. "Yes please. Wow. Thanks!"

Callum smiled. "I guess I'd better go and make that call." He paused at the doorway of his office, "And I expect at least one free dinner from Nigel" he joked, winking, before heading inside.

Libby sank back into her chair. Things could only go up from here…


	3. Money ideas

"You're joking. You have to be. I mean, you're pulling my leg, aren't you?" Gerald babbled in nervous excitement as Libby told him the news a while later in the break room.

Libby took a sip of her coffee, and placed a hand on Gerald's shoulder in an attempt to calm him down, although she couldn't contain her own excitement. "No, I'm not pulling your leg. I'm totally serious. Callum called his friend today, and we're meeting this evening. Isn't it exciting?!" she grinned. "We could have that place up and running in under a month! Kieran will be spewing!"

Gerald gave am excited titter, before suddenly becoming very sober as something hit him. "Libby?"

"Yeah?" the blonde asked, obviously not having seen the same glitch in her plan as Gerald had.

"Where are we going to get the money?"

Libby paused. "Well, I thought that we were gonna pool our money together..."

"Yeah, but I doubt that'd still be enough..." Gerald told her.

Libby chewed her lip thoughtfully. "Nigel has savings, right?"

Gerald thought about this. "I think so..."

"Well then we'll pay for as much as we can and then ask him for the rest, as a sort of loan..."

Gerald shook his head. "He wouldn't agree to do it. He'll say that it's a waste of money, even though he'll truly think that it's not a waste..."

"Tell him you and I are buying a house," Libby countered triumphantly.

"Wh-What?" Gerald stammered, almost choking on his tea.

"Tell him that you and me are going to buy a house together and that you need a loan because you don't have completely enough..." Libby replied calmly.

"But we're not buying a house! We're not even together..." Gerald argued childishly

Libby rolled her eyes. "Yes, but he doesn't know that. And by the time he finds out otherwise, it'll be too late, and he'll be the proud new manager of a bar. How about it?"

Gerald thought about it for a moment. "Well, if it'll get him out of his moping, I'm in. But only if you are. And you can't bail on me out on me!"

Libby grinned. "Deal. I'll leave you to call your dad then. I've got work to do." With that she downed the last of her coffee and rushed out of the break room, grinning.


End file.
